John Setka defends Mick Gatto as an ‘absolute gentleman’

John Setka has claimed he is being unfairly prosecuted for allegedly trying to force AFL umpiring boss and former regulator Stephen McBurney out of a job as the former CFMEU secretary defended underworld figure Mick Gatto as an “absolute gentleman”.

Setka denied all allegations against him, described his struggles with PTSD, praised Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and declared he would never vote for prime minister Anthony Albanese, in an interview with veteran radio host Neil Mitchell’s podcast.

It has been six months since Setka last spoke out after the Building Bad investigation by this masthead, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes exposed alleged corruption and bikie infiltration in the powerful construction union.

Setka called the allegations against him “untruths” and claimed they had hurt his mental health. He said he would never forgive Albanese for putting the CFMEU into administration last year.

Asked he would get back at the prime minister for going after him, Setka responded: “I mean politically if you could get him back, of course you would, that’s the game.”

Allan, Setka said, was doing a “pretty good job” as he praised her for continuing the state’s enormous program of infrastructure spending.

Setka’s reemergence comes as the union’s administrator, barrister Mark Irving, told parliament an unresolved High Court challenge from other former CFMEU bosses to reclaim control of the union was stymying his attempts to weed out corruption. Setka resigned before the CFMEU went into administration and is not involved in the legal challenge.

Reports released by the administrator also noted that Gatto, an underworld figure turned industrial relations fixer, was frequently in the CFMEU’s Victorian office and described as a friend by a number of its officials.

Setka told Mitchell, whose podcast shares an owner with this masthead, that he had a good relationship with Gatto, who he said was not an “intimidating man”.